PHILADELPHIA — Cliff Lee will return to the mound Wednesday after spending close to three weeks on the disabled list with a left oblique strain.

Lee threw two bullpen sessions during the Phillies recent road trip, most recently on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park.

“I felt perfect,” Lee said Tuesday.

In Lee’s absence, Kyle Kendrick made three starts. Although Kendrick bounced back from a rough first game (seen earned runs in three innings) by allowing three combined runs in his last two starts, the Phils lost all three games he started.

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Lee, who pitched 10 shutout innings in his last start, on April 18 in San Francisco, has a 1.96 ERA in three starts.

“I want to (get back) and help my teammates win,” Lee said.

Since the Phillies returned home, Lee has been the go-between for reporters trying to get a word from Cole Hamels. Since their lockers are a couple stalls down from one another in the home clubhouse, Lee has no commented for Hamels following the younger left-hander’s comment about how he hit Washington rookie Bryce Harper on purpose Sunday.

Hamels was levied a five-game suspension by Major League Baseball Monday.

Since Hamels is finished talking about the matter, Lee was asked why Nationals’ right-hander Jordan Zimmermann wasn’t suspended, too. Two innings after Hamels hit Harper, Zimmermann used his first pitch in Hamels’ first at-bat to hit the Phillies pitcher in the shin.

Because home plate umpire Andy Fletcher immediately issued warnings to both benches following Zimmermann hitting Hamels, it was clear Zimmermann’s pitch was also intentional, right?

“Maybe he really didn’t (mean to hit Hamels) — you don’t believe him?” Lee asked with a smirk, referring to Zimmermann’s postgame comments that it was accidental.

So you only get suspended for admitting it, even if an umpire acknowledges it was intentional?

“That just goes to show you can’t ever admit it. No matter what,” Lee said. “You get punished for being honest. That’s what happened this time.”

Lee has walked in Hamels’ spikes. Two years ago, during his brief stay in Seattle, Lee was suspended for five games after an incident with Arizona’s Chris Snyder in spring training.

In the first inning of the exhibition game, Snyder and Lee collided near home plate, where the pitcher was backing up a plate. Two innings later, Lee was thrown out of the game when his first pitch came inside to Snyder and his second buzzed over Snyder’s helmet.

Both dugouts emptied, but no punches were thrown.

Like Zimmermann, Lee gave a politically correct answer afterward: “I was trying to go inside and a couple got away from me.” Unlike Zimmermann, Lee was suspended.

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Hamels will return to the rotation on Sunday, meaning all his five-game suspension did was give him an extra day between starts. Because the Phillies are off Thursday, Charlie Manuel was able to flip Hamels with Roy Halladay in the rotation this weekend while also keeping Halladay on normal rest.

In other Hamels news, Nationals manager Mike Rizzo was fined by MLB for his comments toward Hamels, according to a CSNPhilly.com report. Rizzo called Hamels “gutless,” “classless” and “(bleeping) chicken (bleep)” on Monday, a day after the incident.

When the Phillies activate Lee from the 15-day disabled list before Wednesday’s game, someone will be subtracted from the 12-man pitching staff. The most likely candidates: right-hander Michael Schwimer or left-hander Joe Savery.

After throwing a 1-2-3 inning in his first appearance, Schwimer has been scored on in each of his last three outings. Savery, meanwhile, has been scored on in four of his seven games.

Both also have options, unlike right-hander Brian Sanches, who would have to clear waivers before reporting to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The veteran Sanches could theoretically slide into the long-man role to free up Kendrick to pitch closer to the back of the bullpen.

Entering Tuesday, Kendrick had a 1.93 ERA in three relief appearances this season. He could help a bullpen that’s missed the contributions of Mike Stutes and David Herndon.

“Where he’s going to fit in, I don’t know,” pitching coach Rich Dubee said of Kendrick, whose last three appearances have been starts in place of Lee. “He’s got chance to do some stuff for us. I don’t think we’ve had a long time to get a feel for him.”

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Laynce Nix was unavailable on Tuesday with a sore left calf.

Nix first felt the injury in his last-at bat on Sunday in Washington. He said Tuesday he wanted to “give it a day or two to heal.”

“I feel it walking,” Nix said. “It’s definitely not comfortable to run, to open up and run hard. It’s kind of a difficult situation because I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t want to miss much time.”

Nix hasn’t played since Sunday. He was announced as a pinch hitter on Monday but was pulled back when the Mets countered by bringing in a left-hander.